"Peek at my upcoming Sci Fi Felids" Topic

Here's a pic of one of the poses of trooper in my upcoming Felid sci fi pack. Small pic, but gives some idea of what the unit will look like.

picture

You guys may remember I was asking about proportions of troopers to officers in a sci fi unit -- these are the guys I was referring to!

What's a Felid?

Ohhh ASLAN!

Felids are cat people.

That looks great. A good take on a sci-fi standard.

-Eli

Those look great…curse you Khurasan! Just what I needed, more stuff to spend money on.

Cool! Kzinti with guns.

What's a Felid?

link

Please tell me we get them in 15mm (in addition to any other scale you're planning).

Brilliant!

What scale ?

15mm please.

YouTube link

"Felids are cat people."

I thought these were cat people:

YouTube link
YouTube link

CC

Please tell me we get them in 15mm

You get them in 15mm.

AWESOME! What a fantastic sculpt! That is freakin' beautiful!!

Cool! I'll take some of those. And some 15mm doggie-folk to throw down with.

Superb!

Mark
dropshiphorizon.blogspot.com

Very nice.

Hope to see some in spacesuits, or battle armor too.

Space rats would be far spiffier than space cats.

Did anyone else read the old 60s series of YA novels called "Space Cat" when they were a kid? My sis used to get them from her school library for me; all fish bowl helmets and rockets shaped like V2s. An astronaut and his intelligent talking cat. Can't remember much else except they got me reading and then it was a short step to the Hobbit and an MA in Eng Lit.

@ KHurasan – Wow! that is a nice little figure, and will be snapped up for so many universes . . . Might be close to a cliche but a useful trope is the felid. :)

@ JamesonFirefox – I have heard far less sensible reasons and paths to start an MA in Eglish Literature, well done to you.

@ Zeelow – No need to ask: I am beginning to understand it is now illegal to produce any SF minis in anything else BUT 15mm . . . . :)

Space rats would be far spiffier than space cats.

That's it then, The mob has spoken. We want "Tom & Jerry" in space.

Well, when my sister in law calls herself a "cat person", it will take on a whole new meaning

Great work

@Covert Walrus- Ta. Now if I could only find some work with it…

Hope to see some in spacesuits, or battle armor too.

Actually they are in decently heavy battlearmour already. You guys will be able to see better when they are painted up for display on the site.

It's getting hard to make anything these days in 15mm! Someone's done it already chances are. I've seen at least two things I had in mind to make that someone's already done, so I cancelled, and one thing recently that is already being made for me, so it's too late!

Anyway, cat and mouse? No, but something fairly similar will be happening in my ranges. lol

No one has done a seated spaceship crew, and/or more than just a few figs standing about to represent a ship's crew, in either 15mm, or 25mm/28mm.

We could use figures seated in chairs to control the vessel, fire weapons, keep an eye of the sensors, command the ship, work the communications equipment, maneuver the ship, etc. Seated passengers – civilians and military would be useful as well.

I'd like to see spaceship crews in modern-looking, comfortable clothing, like on the various Trek shows, and/or the old TV show UFO. Some figs in spacesuits, but without helmets on, or with their visors open would be nice too, in order to represent crews anticipating a boarding action, and the loss of atmosphere that might go along with that.

Spaceship personnel to repel boarders with weapons would be good as well, e.g. blast/laser pistols and rifles, stun grenades, etc.

We could use figures seated in chairs to control the vessel, fire weapons, keep an eye of the sensors, command the ship, work the communications equipment, maneuver the ship, etc. Seated passengers – civilians and military would be useful as well.

I wonder how much gaming need there'd be for such models. There would need to be enough so that sufficient quantity would sell to make the investment back.

Look at it this way. Four crewmen would cost about $500, and if they are priced at .60 each, let's just say, and metal cost is about .15 each, over 1,100 of them would need to be sold to just break even. What's the chance that 1,100 seated spaceship crew would be sold?

I don't want to discourage people from saying what they want. Far from it! Just want to put some perspective on why some things don't get made. Same goes for asking for more and more poses. That costs more money, and there is a limit on how many poses you can have made before you are just out of pocket permanently.

Someone like GZG is an exception. They make so much stuff that making the more obscure things like seated spaceship crew just cements their reputation as the go-to guys. They might be able to help!

"Look at it this way. Four crewmen would cost about $500, and if they are priced at .60 each, let's just say, and metal cost is about .15 each, over 1,100 of them would need to be sold to just break even. What's the chance that 1,100 seated spaceship crew would be sold?"

I think it's important that we remember when asking for new types of miniatures or commenting on the sliding price of tin vs the actual cost of miniatures, that there's more to the cost of a mini than simply a few grams of metal. So good point Jon.

Personally though, there's still a lot of opportunity for what I ACTUALLY WANT to see in mainstream 15mm Sci Fi subjects. Yes, we've been spoiled over the past months with the number of new releases after years of drought and I'm grateful.

The Felids will no doubt tick another box, but I am now reaching a point where there is almost too much coming onto the market for me to sensibly purchase, paint and game with it all. So I'm going to sit back for a while, see what comes out and only buy what meets my wants.

No standyabout military figs, no waveyrifle in the air military figs. Crew and civilians, sure, whatever – I want my military to look military and even if not in combat poses, at least advancing into combat (PLEASE!).

Also – VISORS! I don't care whether it looks like Ray-Bans or a full face affair – nothing says Sci Fi more than visors. I take a bunch of FOW WW2 flamethrower minis – give them visors and they are mid-tech Sci Fi troops. No matter how well sculpted the latest Zinth Marines or whatever are – no visors and I may buy a pack, possibly two, but not the 80-100 figs I would if they meet the criteria above.

Cheers
Mark

I understand the cost issue, and the need to recoup expenses, while also actually making a profit. Obviously, military troops will sell best with wargamers.

However, I do believe that there is a decent market for other figures as well, in order to round out various Sci-Fi offerings.

I do imagine that could be done while earning a tidy profit as well. I think a lot of people discount the number of RPG gamers out there. They would seem to be a niche that has not been catered to much, until recently, and no doubt there are probably thousands of them for the Traveller books alone, not to mention Gurps, and others.

A small pack of 8 – 12 figures to represent a ship's crew would be quite useful, especially if at least half of them are offered in sitting poses, to represent personnel controlling the vessel. Make the other half in standing poses, to match, in order to extend the range a bit, and to cut costs, or do them in thirds, e.g. sitting, standing, and fighting/running.

The seated figures could also be used to provide control for wheeled, hover, and grav ground vehicles, ground mounts for weapons, personnel to man bases and buildings, etc.

Yes, I know more figs cost more, but hear me out first.

You could use the same heads on the sitting and standing/walking figures – probably their torsoes as well. They could also be used on bodies in action poses, e.g. running, firing weapons, etc., as well, for triple duty.

You can make several basic bodies (sitting, standing, running, shooting – one of each for male and female figures), and provide the heads/arms/torsoes separately, permitting even more variation in poses, like was done with the Space Demons.

Of course, I will understand if you, or others don't wish to undertake the task, if you don't think they will sell. I imagine the spaceships will continue to fly safely to their destinations under automated control just fine, at least most of the time. Scavengers can pick over, and clean up the mess when the autopilots fail – would make for a decent scenario in itself.

Hopefully, someone will eventually produce these. The GZG free trader crew seems to be fairly well received, as are their "space pirates", otherwise known as ravagers which were just recently released.

I know I would purchase at least 12 – 24 ships crewmen, or more, to outfit a couple of ships, or one larger vessel, depending upon the number of poses, and their makeup. I imagine at least some others might for their forces as well. If nothing else, seated crew figures make good hostages which can be ransomed for money, if desired.

Of course, that is just one Sci-Fi niche that is yet unfilled.

Others which have been ignored, or released in very limited numbers include: spacefighter pilots and groundcrew personnel, civilians in futuristic attire, tank and IFV half-torso models for vehicle hatches, tank and IFV crews working on their vehicle (performing maintenance) or bailing out of it, anti-gravity bikes with scouts riding them, more choices in alien-looking aliens, etc.

I agree with Mark of Dropship on the combat troops, we need more poses of troops actually using their weapons, e.g. firing from the shoulder or hip, advancing/running into combat, skirmishing, throwing grenades, running while crouching to avoid enemy fire (don't recall anyone doing this pose), kneeling while firing, fighting hand-to-hand/claw, etc. Some casualty figures would be nice as well.

I prefer most of mine with their helmets on, and visors down, as well.

I imagine the spaceships will continue to fly safely to their destinations under automated control just fine, at least most of the time.

However, under most circumstances ships that are going to be flown onto the tabletop do not need to show their pilots. Only for games that are taking place inside the ship do you need that, and my suspicion is that even then, if gaming is going on inside the ship, seated crewmen are not what's wanted, it's men armed and chasing off the gribblies that have got onboard.

I think there's a market for virtually everything out there, and somewhere out there are modellers who would buy a pack of 8-12 models of seated spaceship crewmen. And indeed dollies can be used to make multiple poses. (Not sure the space demon headswap would work here as human body parts tend to be a bit more delicate! I made separate arms for some of my 15mm historicals and the gamers were unanimous that they didn't like them.) The issue is whether enough people would want them, and my suspicion is that there would not be anywhere near enough demand to satisfy $1,000 in overhead to make a pack of 8 spaceship crewmen.

Actually from what Mark is saying it might be best to hold off on making new 15mm sci fi right now rather than invest in making new stuff, especially fringe stuff. Sci fi is a sideline for me and if the market is being saturated with new stuff, that's not a good market for me to invest more into. I've got a whole new line of guys on their way so I hope that people have not yet hit their gag point on all the new releases!

ps: you say you agree with Mark on poses, but he just said "whatever" to the whole idea of crewmen, and even on the poses issue, some of the poses you say you want are poses that he has specifically said he dislikes. There's the rub. In the end, when deciding what to make, what poses, etc., you just have to make an educated guess and see what works and what doesn't.

Sci fi is a sideline for me and if the market is being saturated with new stuff, that's not a good market for me to invest more into.

I don't know if I'd say 'saturated', though the # of options is huge compared to when I started looking at getting into 15mm sci-fi back at the start of the year. I look at it more as 'catching up' with 28mm sci-fi in terms of variety. But as the variety has increased, people who used to buy everything that came out for 15mm will be picking and choosing a bit more.

-Will

Aslan/Kzinti..YEEEHAH!!!

15mm.co.uk have pilots (standing) and ground crewman here: link

I think the acid test for crew figures in 'working' poses is to ask Jon at GZG how well his floating spacemen are selling.

I agree with Top Gun Ace that there are thousands of RPG gamers out there, but I think (and it is just a think, I have nothing to back this argument up) that given the dearth of a decent range of 15mm RPG suitable minis sculpted to modern standards (Baker, Campbell, WhiffWhaff et al), over the past twenty years that 28mm and even paper miniatures probably retain the larger market. Whilst there may be a potentially huge market for the figures you are suggesting in 15mm – and I would have bitten your arm off for them when I was RPGing with Traveller back in the 80's – it's a market that has still to be coaxed back into 15mm.

It's starting to happen, no doubt about that, but is there enough to make the investment worthwhile right NOW?

Will has hit the nail on the head, at least as far as my gaming pal and I are concerned. We simply don't have the resources in money, time or effort to buy everything new that's coming out AND complete existing projects. This may not be true though of those gamers joining the curve now.

Interested to hear what others think.

Cheers
Mark

We NEED miniatures of this alien:

picture

Thought I would bump this, because I have got several enquiries about these fellows when I mentioned them in a recent thread.

These will make a good enemy to hunt down and kill in the name of the glorious Emperor!

Will these only be available in 15mm?

Wow, really looking forward to seeing these in production. That sculpt is just awesome.

Just wanted to add that one of the other factors that works against "working poses" sculpts is that many 15mm folks tend to build platoons, reinforced platoons or even companies. That means that a good set of military figs will often be purchased 3-9 times (as a guess) by one individual.

If you combine this the economics khurasanminiatures posted, the manufacturer needs to sell the set to 200 or so customers instead of 1100. And that's just to break even. Sounds like a pretty tough business to me.

Khurasan,

I wasn't planning on adding too many aliens to my mix, but you have definitely changed my mind.

Can't wait to find out when they are ready for sale!

CC

They went off to the casters at the beginning of the week, CC. I will need to get him some more stuff to go into the green master mold (parasachnids definitely, but I have to get some other stuff to fill the mold too) and after that it's 3-4 weeks to make the two molds and get the castings, then about 2 weeks to get them to the painter and painted for sale. It is a long and winding road the Lingzians must walk.

Excellent. Well worth the wait, Khurasan!

CC

They are one of more intresting stuff that were shown in the past few months in Non human infantry.

I am waiting for them for sure